gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Guatemala, Mesoamerica

Chihara reviews Guatemalan jadeite from geological, petrological, mineralogical and cultural perspectives. He discusses the occurrence of jadeite in Guatemala and its relationship to serpentinite, and describes the characteristics and mineralogical variation of the material. Drawing particularly on earlier work by Foshag, he recognizes seven types of Guatemalan jade, differentiated by appearance and composition, and relates these materials to jade objects of the Olmec, Maya and Aztec cultures, including the chalchihuitl of the Aztecs. The paper thus combines discussion of the geological occurrence and mineralogy of Guatemalan jadeite with its archaeological use in Mesoamerica.